bailenvsbainTell them apart

Which to use

“bailen” and “bain” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,149
“bailen” frequency rank
#49,457
“bain” frequency rank
94606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bailen bain
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de bailar. Quitar.

Where the eye mixes bailen and bain

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
bailen
4 ch
bain

Why the eye confuses bailen with bain

A purely visual mix-up. bailen ([ˈbajlẽn]) and bain ([bˠanʲ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bailen is recorded at frequency rank #45,149, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbajlẽn]. bain is at rank #49,457, tagged as averb, pronounced [bˠanʲ].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 94606, this pair ranks #776 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bailen vs bain

Shared letters: abin. Private to "bailen": el. Private to "bain": -.

"bailen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "bain" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bailenabilen · baieln · bailenn · baillen · bailne · balien · bbailen · bialen
  • bainabin · bainn · bani · bbain · vain

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bailen" for "bain" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbajlẽn] versus [bˠanʲ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bailen" vs "bain" - which ranks higher?
"bailen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,149 in our Spanish list, against #49,457 for "bain". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bailen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bain" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #776 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bailen" and "bain" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bain vs brie". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #776 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list